Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tomorrow morning I have to get to work bright and early because the entire team is going to be put through a DISC Assessment.

I can hear the boy say, "WHA?"

Well folks, DISC stands for:Dominance - relating to control, power and assertivenessInfluence - relating to social situations and communicationSteadiness - relating to patience, persistence, and thoughtfulnessConscientiousness - relating to structure and organization(according to wikipedia)

From what I understand, DISC is similar to Myer-Briggs type indicator, except it is situational base. I could have a completely different DISC profile at work then when I am at home. Meaning, I could be a totally submissive servant at work, and a boss lady bitch at home. Just saying.

So last week, in preparation for this assessment/training, we all took an online assessment quiz. I'm betting—based on how I answer the quiz—that I am very likely a C and High S.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, to learn what type of work personality my team mate has, and how we can work better together (yeah I chuckled at this).

But the most important thing of all... what should I wear so that I won't be late? (It takes me forever and a day to get ready in the morning)

Sunday, January 27, 2008

It is the time of the year again, with Chinese New Year coming up in 2 weeks.

Believe it or not, I was actually googling recipes for "Fried Wonton", and out of the many search results, Rasa Malaysia caught my eye.

It is an amazing food blog, with detailed instructions and great photos to go with it. I've been browsing through the site this weekend, and I think I am going to attempt the following two recipes in the near future, which means, in the next year or so for me.

After a week of procrastination, the boy and I finally finished assembling the dresser Saturday evening.

The room is finally coming together now, it went from a neon blue and green wall (it was a kid's room), to a nice calming muted wine color.

But by no means the room is completed, as we're still waiting for the second nightstand to be delivered as the first one was damaged in transit.

I've been looking online all evening for cool and interesting wall art. I think I want to try out Wall Decals. They are rather inexpensive compared to frame art, and it is definitely something different.

Here is how the room looks like currently, and I photoshopped one of the decal on the wall just as an example*:

I ma let the idea simmer for another day or two and see if I still like it. But for now, this is definitely a viable solution to the blank wall. Any frame art would likely be out of our price range for what we want to spend now.

Monday, January 21, 2008

The bedroom furniture we ordered from CB2.com was delivered Saturday morning. In hindsight, it was easy to see how the nightmare begin.

First mistake: Assembly required. Not such a big deal usually, but we're talking about a king size bed here.

Second mistake: Told the delivery guy to put the box downstairs in the dining room. Again, not a big deal usually, but this bed is big and thus HEAVY. However, had I told him to put the box upstairs, I'll be bitchin' about the dirty carpet. This is a no-win situation.

Here is the headboard in its box. We decided to take it out of the box for easy transportation. Already there are some disagreement on how to haul it up the stairs. After some grunts and sweat from the boy (and me being absolutely no help), we got the headboard to the second floor.

Once we got all the pieces upstairs, the bed frame came together nicely. However, that joy was short lived, what killed us was screwing on the legs.

The instruction booklet calls for the bed side ways, as seen in the photo on the left. After some good old temper tantrums and blood boiling by the both of us we decided to flip it over - supported by a foot stool and baby gate (don't get any ideas, it was leftover from the seller). Thank goodness this trick worked.About 3 hours after we started, our new king size bed assembly = mission accomplished. Knowing that we managed put together this big-ass bed, we proceeded to finish up one of the night stand as well.

The end result is very satisfying. However, if we were a new couple, there is no way in hell the relationship would survive putting together a bed. Heck, the boy's deployment was easier to deal with than this.

Friday, January 18, 2008

I've been pondering about adding product reviews to my blog. While there is a very slim chance that my review is actually helpful to someone, I think the review is more for me myself. I love switching up stuff, things like body wash, shampoo, cosmetics, clothings, donuts, coffee, and even restaurant.

The list doesn't end here, but ole me can never remember if I like that new vanilla flavored toothpaste, or if I like the donuts from this little store down the street.

I think I will give this a try. Watch for my product review coming soon. It will probably be something simple, possibly a review on the el cheapo shampoo and conditioner I just bought.

I love love love the current Target stores and their designer's special, and all the cute IM purses etc. I'm not industry expert, but I do wonder who Target is going to replace the colorful, flamboyant Isaac Mizrahi with.

Marc Jacobs - his mainline is really classic which I love, and his Marc by MJ line is quirky and could very well be toned down a tad and reproduce for mass market.Donna Karen - maybe...Michael Kors - since he is getting more well known now due to Project Runway?

Or maybe it's the relatively newer newcomers, that could very well fill the shoes of IM at Target collection, like Zac Posen or Tory Burch.

Boy I would love to know which designer is going to be the next household name. Your guesses?

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Early this morning, when I went to turn off the porch light I noticed the light bulb was out. So I opened a new pack of the environmental friendly fluorescent light bulb, dragged the tall kitchen tool to front door, and replaced the burnt out incandescent bulb.

I turned the light back on and the light switch was buzzzzzzzzing and the new bulb was flickering like fireflies. I had no clue what was going so I ran downstairs to the computer, and viola the answer was found on answer.yahoo.com.

Apparently, the switch on the wall is a dimmer, I HAD no idea. How was I suppose to know? And I can't use fluorescent bulb with a dimmer switch. ALSO, I'm not suppose to use fluorescent bulbs outdoors.

So another 15 minutes later, I found a regular round bulb, stood on the kitchen stool, and fixed the issue.

And that, were the 2 lessons that this new home owner learnt today. I'm sure there are plenty more to come.

Friday, January 11, 2008

After 4+ years with Directv I finally cancel their service. Their installation process and the communication between the Directv, schedulers and the installation techs was just not there. I posted about the whole headache a while back.

So the boy and I thought we'll try something new, and signed up with Dish Network. The programming we got is roughly the same between the old service and the new - America's Top 200 - and the monthly charges are only couple dollars different, so it boils down to installation and customer service.

Installation is in 2 weeks. We shall see. It is an 18 month contract. Who knows, maybe after that we'll give AT&T U-verse a try.

I do wonder, if Charter Cable has the largest market share in St. Louis.

If you're a big trailer and hauling a huge ass dumpster full of debris, please be considerate and DON'T FLY DOWN THE HIGHWAY at 80mph. What you leave behind is a messy traffic trail of cars trying to avoid you, and the dust, rocks and stones that are flying all over the air.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

I love fashion, and it's easy for me. But home decor, dang that is a totally different story. I ventured out to Bed Bath and Beyond to get drapes for the living room, because the afternoon sun shines right on the couch, making it impossible to watch TV without holding a pillow up blocking out the sun rays.

I love the thickness of the drapes, the color is gorgeous too. HOWEVER, at 95", they are still too short. The next length up will be too long, and I would have no idea how to hem a curtain. Should I just leave it "puddle" on the floor? Gah. If only this is as easy as pants.

Monday, January 7, 2008

I am weak. Instead of the healthy 90 calories granola bar that I was supposed to have for breakfast, I chowed down a mucho delicioso apple fritter, along with a glass of cold mocha frap. I know, the pic of the fritter doesn't look appealing at all, but trust me, it's gooood.

Sunday, January 6, 2008

I think it's that time of month again, or maybe it's just the stress of owning a house (as oppose to renting), moving and work.

Haven't been to yoga in 2 weeks or so, due to the holidays. And naturally I relapsed back into familiar rock music as my "hideout".

On my itunes now, playing my songs as loud as I can stand, are my collection of some good old System of a Down and Limp Bizkit tunes, I haven't been able to locate Korn yet, hopefully soon.

Its just one of those daysWhen you don't wanna wake upEverything is f***edEverybody s***You don't really know whyBut you want justifyRippin' someone's head offNo human contactAnd if you interactYour life is on contractYour best bet is to stay away mother******It's just one of those days!!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

I was moping the floor earlier tonight at 9.30pm. Saturday night. I know what my best friend would say: "Angeline?! House work?! No way!"

But yeah, that was exactly what I was doing, squirting the liquid cleaner on the floor, pushing the O-mop up and down the hard wood floor. Why? Because my tummy is so darn full I can't hardly sit down, I had to stand and move around.

I really can't complain though, had dinner earlier with Don and Colleen at Fitz. I never had fried pickle, really interesting appetizer, no weirder than fried twinkie honestly. After stuffing down the whole burger + cheese + mushroom, root bear, I managed to coax the boy into getting Bubble Tea couple shops down. So needless to say, after all that, I could hardly walk back to the car. *BURB*

Darn. One of my 07 mid year resolution is "portion-control". I was doing pretty good until Thanksgiving and Christmas came around. Oh well, at least the floors are clean now.

I used to love Directv. USED to. But not anymore, this fiasco has been going on for a month now.

First:When we moved to our new old house at the beginning of Dec, I called and scheduled for Directv techs to come move the dish. The tech didn't show up and did not call to notify me. Okay fine, I figured it was cold and rainy that day, I'll cut the tech some slack.

Second:Called and rescheduled for the second time. This time the tech was nice and courteous, however, he said he couldn't put the dish up coz he needs a 40ft ladder and a non-penetrating roof mount because we have a flat roof. Okay fine.

Third:Called and reschedule again, the sheduler told me she didn't have my info - order was cancelled and reason given: Buyers Remorse. Bull crap. After much hollering she scheduled a tech to come out that Saturday. Tech came, was polite and nice enough. But he said "I need a 40ft ladder and a non-pen roof mount." I had to do some yoga breathing for fear of flying into a rage and strangling that poor tech.

Fourth:Rescheduling for the 4th time, this time I called the installer directly to make sure I get that tech that specializes in the 40ft ladder and non-pen roof mount. I threatened to cancel - not as a tactic, but I am really || (this close) to switching over to Dish Network.

So where am I now? Sitting at home, waiting for the 40ft ladder specialist to come install my dish. The window is 12-5pm today (Saturday), and it is 4.35pm now. The tech has 25 minutes to show up at my door step. After which, bye bye Directv. I gave you enough chances to redeem yourself.

Yesterday I twittered about the car and how weird it felt when I first started it up and drove it in single digit weather.

Other than the clutch being all gooey, it felt like the e-brake wasn't releasing (Yes, call me anal retentive, but I always park in 1st gear w/ e-brake engaged). At that point I wasn't sure if that is possible - that is - if the e-brake is mechanical or electrical.

So I stopped twice before getting on WB I-44, first time next block down, and second time at World's Fair donut place, to make sure that my brakes wasn't burning red and to make sure I don't smell burning brakes. And also to get my favorite apple fritters.

Was posting on another topic when I saw this post on Audizine this morning:"Get a two foot long piece of 3/4" dowel rod and keep it in the car. When the E-brake sticks look through the spokes of the wheel and you will see the E-brake arm. Use the dowel rod to push it back and the brake will release."

Well good to know. Apparently it is quite common when it gets real cold. DON ya hear that?!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

From Dec 19th - Jan 2nd, I gained 5 lbs. That means a little more than 1lb a week. Yoga doesn't start back up till next Tuesday and I've definitely been slacking in the self-discipline department.

I tried on a couple pair of pants in the closet last night and sucks some of them are getting too tight to wear to work. If it weren't freezing cold this morning I would've opted for a wrap dress, as overdressed as that may be in my office, wrap dresses are one of the most comfortable clothing item that is appropriate for work as well. Works well when I can't fit in my pants!